


silence

by perhapssoon



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Gen, Oops, Spoilers for Season 9, everything is platonic, i don’t rlly like Garmadon now, im still salty abt this, this is kinda depressing tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-08 15:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15246729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perhapssoon/pseuds/perhapssoon
Summary: She’s the only one he really talks to. The rest of his life he lives in silence.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of @parachutingkitten’s post on tumblr.

The first conversation they have is supposed to be about motorcycles.

"You like motorcycles?"  He's ninety-five percent sure she only asked that because they have nothing else to do.

He nods, preferring not to speak if he can't help it.

"Me too." The girl slides off the vehicle in question as if it isn't obvious and sidles up to him. "What's your name?"

This requires a verbal answer, and he's dreading the look of confusion she most likely will give him. ".E .rM si eman yM"

"Cool!" She seems unfazed, which is both confusing and a relief.  "Mr. E. Huh. Sounds like 'mystery.'" She pauses before grinning and elbowing him.  "Probably because you _are_ a mystery.  Never talking, really mysterious and awesome. I've heard about you a lot.  Glad to finally meet you in person. I'm Violet. My friends call me Ultra Violet."

Staring at her outstretched hand, he wonders if this is a ruse.  Maybe she knows he's not human. Maybe she knows who he really is.

He takes her hand and shakes it.  She has a firm grip for someone who is moderately hyper. "Y'know, I was just joking about the motorcycle part.  Obviously, you're a biker, so duh! Why _wouldn't_ you like motorcycles?"

He doesn't know how to respond to this.  

Ultra Violet rambles on about motorcycles, seemingly unaware of his lack of responses. “...And so I was, like, y’know, that person really doesn’t understand how motorcycles work so I thought I would let them off easy but noooo...”

Her voice eventually fades into a comforting rumble next to him before she asks, “We’re friends, right?”

He startles. He wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying and the minor panic was enough to make him speak. “.tahw, tiaW”

Ultra stares at him for a moment before laughing. “I should’ve known I talk too much for someone who barely talks at all. That’s okay. I was just asking if we’re friends.”

He shrugs. Her company _is_ nice, even when she spews a hundred words per second. 

Ultra seems to take it as a yes. 

“Yay!” She throws her arms around him in a partial hug and just hangs there and he’s momentarily surprised. “I just never had friends before and everyone I talk to doesn’t like me other than Killow of course and—”

He doesn’t know who Killow is, but he relaxes into her hold as she rattles on. If this is what having a friend feels like, he’s pretty sure he doesn’t want her to stop any time soon. 

—

Ultra introduces him to Killow a week later. The large biker is a bit imposing but friendly. 

“I heard all about you from Ultra over here.” Killow pauses to pat Ultra heavily on the head and she beams up at him. “You’ve created quite a name for yourself these past few weeks.”

It’s probably because he’s a nindroid, but he chooses not to reply in that manner. It’s time to see if Killow can understand him like Ultra does. 

“.uoy ot sknaht on haeY”

Maybe it isn’t the best idea to aggravate someone who is at least three times his size. 

Killow grins widely. “I like you, you’re competition.”

“For the last time, Killow, you won’t be able to beat him,” Ultra butts in. “Mr. E’s too good for you.”

Killow snorts. “How about this: we settle this via race.”

He shrugs. “.em ot doog sdnuoS”

—

He wins the race. Killow loses with good grace, and Ultra leans in, looking impressed. 

"Wow, he isn't a sore loser this time. Nice one."

—

He’s had lessons on hair styling. It’s in his programming.  But he’s never had to use it, partially because he didn’t even know what he would use it on. 

When Ultra hears this — minus the programming part — she gets so excited, he actually fears she will crash her bike. “Are you kidding me?”

He shakes his head. 

“Can you do my hair?”

If it weren’t for the strange request, he would’ve said no.

—

She wears a different hairstyle every day for three weeks. He's most proud of that one braid he made using most of her hair for the bottom layer and then weaving a thinner line down the center.  She stole a ribbon from some old person's cat to add into it.

He was more than happy to comply.

—

She finds out he’s a nindroid when they get into a particularly nasty crash that involves two trains, a dog, and an uprooted tree. His leg ends up thirty feet away in the dog’s mouth. 

He figures out quickly that he can still use a motorcycle with one leg but Ultra figures it out even quicker that he’s definitely not human. Not fully human, anyway. 

“You’re a nindroid?” She sounds upset, most likely because he had been technically lying to her the entire time. 

He gives her a silent nod. 

Ultra heaves a sigh. “Well I totally get why you hid that from Killow and me but honestly, we’re your friends. If you have to tell anyone anything, it’d be to us.”

He understands. He can’t express it clearly to her but for some reason, she gets it. 

“You know I dated someone way back when,” she says by consolation. 

He gives her an incredulous look. 

“No really,” she giggles. “He was an ass so I left him.”

“.yrros m’I” he says and she shrugs, a strange expression crossing her face for a split second. 

“It was worth it to see his face when I dumped him.”

He wants to help her but he doesn’t know how. 

—

Harumi is someone he finds by himself, quite surprisingly. Ultra pokes fun at them being an item, though all four of what she calls the “Sons of Garmadon” know that they are all just friends.

“Friends with Benefits,” Harumi suggests, eyes glinting. 

Ultra bursts into laughter. “Only you would think that up, 'Rumi.”

Harumi nods slowly, sobering slightly. “We need to resurrect Garmadon. You know what to call me.”

They all know what to call her. She based it off her own traumatic experience, which is something he is impressed and a bit put off by. 

He bows to her, the traditional greeting for the royal family. “.enO teiuQ ehT”

She bows back. “Mr. E. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

—

They manage to hold formalities for an hour before everything dissolves into laughter. 

—

They resurrect Garmadon using the Oni Masks. He doesn’t know what to feel about Garmadon himself. The Dark Lord really isn’t such an ideal leader when it comes to staying alive, but he can’t voice his opinions because although Harumi can understand him, she is entirely loyal to her Lord. 

It’s supposed to be considered as the highest honor when she comes to him to tell him his orders are to capture their Lord’s son. 

Ultra gives him a sympathetic look. She knows what will happen if he fails.

—

He fails. He will pay the price. 

—

Their last conversation is at night, underneath the stars. They park their bikes in an abandoned garage and walk to the roof. 

“You’re going to be punished tomorrow,” Ultra says and for once, she sounds serious 

“.wonk I” And he does. Really. But it was _his_ failure and so it will be _his_ punishment that he will follow through with. Both for his honor and his friends’ sakes. 

“If you don’t make it out...”

He has to comfort her. He can sense tears forming in the corners of her eyes. He needs to help her to pay back for all the great times they had together. 

“.lliw I”

—

He lies.

—

He doesn’t see her as he dies, as Garmadon slowly extracts the artificial life from his energy core. He only can imagine the grief that is tearing her apart. He can’t speak; his voice isn’t working and it’s only a matter of time before he falls apart. He can feel the pieces rattling around inside of him. 

So it’s the thought that counts, maybe, the thought he wishes to say, but not in his usual voice. He tries.  His voice shakes as he speaks.

“I’m sorry.”

It takes a second for him to realize that he is already lying in pieces around Garmadon's throne, before everything goes black.

—

He dies as most people knew him. In silence.


	2. regret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath, as seen by Ultra Violet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewatched his death yesterday and I’m sad again.

Killow is the one who gathers the remains of Mr. E --being he is the only one who can carry all of the separate parts at the same time -- and lays them on the table.

"We-we could rebuild him," Harumi suggests, her voice wavering slightly as they assess the damage done to their friend.

"Are you kidding me?" Ultra Violet asks, eyes squinting as to not show her own sadness. "Garmadon literally tore him to pieces. Slowly.  Watching that was torture. It'd be a miracle if we can put him back together _and_ have him work the same way he did before _this_ happened."

She's pretty sure that building an android and programming it as well are two separate things, and as much as she wishes it were the same thing, it's not.  It's the truth. Like the truth they all know deep inside that Mr. E is never coming back.

They can still make excuses, though, but it just makes things worse. The could-haves and the would-haves are too numerous to count. _If they weren't the bad guys, none of this could've happened.  If they hadn't summoned Garmadon, none of this would've happened._

"I know, I just--" Harumi sighs. "It was a suggestion," she says quietly.

"We tracked those Elemental Masters to a garbage depot," Killow says, and Ultra _knows_ this is going to be another pointless, impossible thing to do before he even finishes the sentence.  "Maybe if we--"

"Guys, stop," Ultra says shakily.  "He's not coming back. None of us can program him half as well as his creator, and Garmadon severed all of his wires when he came apart.  He's beyond rebuildable."

The other two stare at her in disbelief.

"You're right," Harumi says finally. "How stupid of us." She lets out a weak laugh, something that everyone, including her, know is just a last attempt to make them feel something other than grief.

They part ways, leaving the parts of Mr. E on the table.  Ultra wonders that if they were on good terms with the ninja, they would be able to fix Mr. E.  She knew they had at least two competant people on their team. _But then again, if we were on their side, Garmadon wouldn't kill him._

\--

The next time they meet is to redistribute the Oni Masks.  Mr. E isn't there to occupy the Oni Mask of Vengeance so Ultra Violet volunteers. 

Harumi gives her a sympathetic look as she gingerly hands over the Vengeance Mask as if it burns her, Ultra exchanging it with the Oni Mask of Hatred, which she barely has possession over, as she only used it once.

The Vengeance Mask is slightly longer than Hatred Mask, but for the most part, it is the same. The horns take a bit to get used to, and Ultra learns to keep her head straighter when she fights to make sure she doesn't feel like she'll fall over any second.  The double arms are a bit confusing. She learns to control them, but they feel wrong, like the Mask knows its previous owner and that she shouldn't be wearing it. The swords, she notices with a metaphorical punch to the stomach. Red katanas.

She promised him once that if he died, she would use his weapons when she needed it.  In a way, it was like a will, and she hated every second of that conversation, but he pointed out that if something happened to him, she would blame it on herself.

".enim esu t'nac uoy kniht ot uoy tnaw t'nod I ,nopaew a tuohtiw kcuts era reve uoy fI"

"Why would I think that?" she had asked, and he simply stared at her with those holographic eyes.

".taht rof llew oot uoy wonk I esuaceB"

She can tell why they are his favorite weapons.  They are light, easy to handle, and surprisingly sturdy. When Killow sees her use the Mask for the first time, he raises a brow.

"You're good at using that," he says when she's finished.

"I've been practicing," is all she says.

She _had_ promised him. And she wasn't one to break a promise like that.

Harumi seems impressed by Ultra's display, but she leaves halfway through because it's too painful of a reminder because she technically was the one who got him killed.

And Ultra knows the guilt she feels, because even though she didn't out Mr. E to the Dark Lord, she didn't _do_ anything.

"You're going to be punished tomorrow," she had said.

".wonk I"

"If you don't make it out..." It was a possibility that was too large but Ultra had to hope.

".lliw I"

He had lied to her.  And it didn't make anything better.

\--

Then he had died and she felt his death rip her apart like it was _her_ being suspended in front of the throne, _her_ who broke apart at the seams, _her_ who fell to the floor in pieces. 

And it _was_ her, in a way.

\--

Without Mr. E, everything is different.  

The lackeys don't ask questions.  Maybe they can see the look of enraged sadness in Harumi's eyes when they mention it, or the discreet warning look from Killow, or maybe they see Ultra Violet's flying kick aiming towards them a bit too late.

It feels like he wasn't needed, as the Sons accomplish as much as they did when Mr. E _was_ around. But Ultra can't help wondering that if they had their remaining third on the team, Lloyd and the others wouldn't have escaped.

They never will know.

\--

She still goes to that rooftop sometimes, the one they sat on the night before that fateful day.  She just sits there, staring up at the stars they had looked at what seemed like ages ago. 

She makes up conversations: ones they could've had, ones they've had before, and ones they never will.  He always responds to her in that strange but understandable backwards way, and she finds herself listening so intently, she wonders why.

It takes her a moment before she realizes she's listening to silence.

**Author's Note:**

> *ugly sobbing*


End file.
